Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Love the colors Julie selected for this weeks challenge at the Play Date Cafe Challenge. I was thinking romance and if you look at her pictures they are for a wedding I think. :)

The Design Team also decided to challenge ourselves and play around with a few other elements. I won't say what they were but if you pop over to the Cafe you can see what else we decided to include as a common theme. While you are over there check out the new badges for the PDDC!

Onto my cards for the challenge. Yep! Not one but two cards this week all for the price of one!

The first one was created with a touch of grey as my neutral color. I loved how it turned out but then decided I wanted to try something else...

My second card was created using a mask. I created a mask from acetate using the Ranger Birdcage Die cut from Sizzix.

Loved how they both turned out and they ended up looking very similar in design. :)

Kelly Marie Alvarez is also joining us in the challenge this week as our guest designer! She is also sponsoring our challenge this week with a fabulous prize from her new release which will be available at Lawn Fawn!

The rest of the design team also created some beautiful projects using the inspiration colors.

I don't think you get the full effect from the picture. :( I created a little collage of stamps that reflect items you might find in an attic or in an antique store. I then created a box card with a window to showcase the collage.

All the stamps are Hero Arts. The measurements on the box window card are 12" x 7". Score along the length at 1", 1 1/2", 6 1/2", and 7". The cut out window is cut in the front pane leaving 1" and 1/2" on the sides.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Louise's challenge this week is summer. I apologize up front because I must be in a rut because I finished my tag and realized I used the same colors as last weeks tag and my card from yesterday. (Either that or I haven't put away my inks!)

I have this beautiful set of stamps from Artistic Outpost called Bloom and Grow that I have been wanting to ink up. When I thought of summer I thought of our summer flowers. Marigolds are one of our hardier annuals that we grow in the summer. They don't mind the heat and last all summer beautifully. They are so cheery and sunny! I decided to use the seed packet stamp and accent it with a few butterflies from the Hero Arts Engravings stamp set.

The paper is yellow pattern paper. I stamped the words using versamark and clear embossed. I then sponged the entire surface using Spiced Marmalade with a little touch of cocoa! :)

Monday, June 28, 2010

This is just for fun. I made this card fairly quickly(for me anyways). After I finished I kept fighting the urge to pearlize, stickle it up, or add some more details. :)

I have had this Hero Arts poppy stamp sitting in my drawer and wanted to play for it for awhile. I finally pulled it out along with my wood grain and colored it with a water brush and some distress inks.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Louise's challenge this week is to use Postage on the Tag. I really wanted to play since I made a tag last week and didn't share it as it didn't work out the way I had planned.

I actually used some postage from a package that Deborah sent me from Canada. I had some lovely stamps from Indonesia that I was going to use but these worked with the colors better. The bell and Forever are from a package of stamps we purchased. They include a large sticker that emulates the stamp and I cut it up and used the images.

The train image is from some Graphics 45 paper that I purchased with tags. I loved the colors and decided to create a coordinating tag. I started with an ivory tag and added red, orange and brown distressing to emulate the Graphics 45 paper. The map is a Hero Arts stamp which I love and don't get to use often enough.

I also wanted to share a card I made for the Card Patterns Sketch and for the Cards Blog challenge this week. I unfortunately missed the deadline for the Card Patterns challenge. :(

This is for my youngest DD birthday. She has a July birthday and thinks any red, white and blue card for the 4th of July is for her. So I like to make her a card with the 4th of July mixed in.

Sorry I haven't been around to visit. I have been having issues with my wrists due to too much typing for work, so I have been taking a little of a break from commenting. I will try to get around soon!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

I loved the colors together and the streaking on the chairs. It inspired me to pull out my dye inks and a sheet of acetate. To see if I could achieve the streaks of color. I made around 6 different background papers but I ended up using this background.

Recipe:

Start with your lightest color first, for me this was the blue ink pad. Turn the ink pad so you can drag a corner of the ink pad across the acetate. This will leave a nice streak of ink. Repeat a few more times with the same ink and leave room for other colors in between.

Take your next color (mine was orange) and repeat the dragging of the ink being careful to leave space between the stripes.

Repeat the inking process with the remaining colors (red, brown).

Spritz the ink with water over the entire sheet of acetate to get the ink fluid.

Lay your paper on and pull off. You can also flip the acetate and move the ink with your fingers.

Let dry.

Stamp images and sentiment using brown pigment ink.

Stamp butterflies using teal pigment ink and add stickles.

This week I am sharing a few pictures of my crafty space. My craft space is in our former office area with the family computer. This means I have many visitors in my craft area including our two dogs (Emma and Harry).

My craft space is in the midst of some re-work. My DH has promised me some storage which won't get created until winter. (Indoor projects as he calls them) So be prepared for some overflowing containers and a little chaos.

When you come into the room on the left wall there is a book shelf and next to it a variety of plastic storage containers.

The area directly across from the doors is my main desk area and a shelving unit.

My desk is made from a piece of countertop that is awaiting the storage my hubby will make.The plastic containers under the desk contain stamps and 12 x 12 pattern paper/cardstock. The bins on the right contain ribbons, punches and envelopes. Where my feet are supposed to go you will see two scrap bins, one for white scraps and the other is all different colors sorted by colors.

On top of my desk I have an inkpad holder that my DH made and I love it! I probably could use another one. I try to keep the supplies I use all the time on the desktop. I still have plenty of room to work with. (from this picture you can't see that. :)

On the right side of the room the embossing/cutting station and the family computer are located.

Hope you enjoyed the tour of my crafty space.

Lucy Abrams is also joining us in the challenge this week as our guest designer! Lucy is fantastic and I was so happy to find out that she was guest designing for us.

The rest of the design team also created some beautiful projects using the inspiration colors.

Monday, June 21, 2010

This weeks CHF challenge and blog hop is to use All Things Considered Stamps. I apologize because once again the only stamps I have from CHF for this brand are..... (Drum roll) Yep you guessed it... Christmas stamps. :)

The set I used is called Evergreen Holiday ATC-5002FUM. Sometimes (rarely) I get an idea ahead of time and I can see it. This was one of those times. I was thinking about this since Saturday.

Isn't this fun? I was thinking about an old fashioned washboard decorated up for Christmas. It is the size of a 5" x7" card and actually is intended to be a card. The matching shape will be made for the backside. (Although I think this would make a great tag in a smaller size!)

I also was going to create an image in the opening on the top and decided I liked it with the handle.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Cath at Moxie Fab World provided a fun inspiration photo for the Tuesday Trigger.

Immediately I thought of using up some scraps and creating a very simple, clean card. (Not that I didn't struggle with all that white space!!!!)

Here's my take on the trigger. I envisioned it with just the strips of paper with some stamping but ended up adding the stars to add some depth. I am going to dig out my stamp that says You are a Star and use it on the inside.

Friday, June 18, 2010

My second entry for this weeks Cornish Heritage Farms Summer Fling. I finished it late last night and posted it up to the gallery because the deadline is on Thursday. This card wasn't selected as a designer favorite but they did showcase my other card on the Be Creative blog today. Yeah!

When I stamped my golden Kinkade image I stamped a second image using grey pigment ink. The background is colored using a combination of sponging, painting with distress inks and watercolor pencils. I then added a layer of stickles over the snowy area and smooshed it on with my fingers. :)

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Julie selected the inspiration for the color splash weeks challenge at the Play Date Cafe Challenge. I love the color splash challenges! Highlighting one color with blacks, whites, and greys is always inspiring to me.

I needed to create a graduation card for my niece what a better way to use the black and white that are usually associated with graduation and popping in a little blue!

This was a lot of fun to create as I knew I was going to create a grid card and got to come up with different images and accents for the grids. I do have to give Nancy a shout out as the cloud background was inspired from her fun card.

The challenge this week is hosted by Lisa and she is going to share some pictures of her crafting area. I can't wait to take a peek. I am always interested in people's craft spaces.

Our sponsor this week is Limelight go to the PDCC to see the fab prize. Mandy Cheshire is also joining us in the challenge this week as our guest designer!
The rest of the design team created some awesome projects using the splash of color.

This week in the Cornish Heritage Farm Summer Fling is to use a Kinkade Stamp. I happen to have one Kinkade stamp TK-106T Slient Night. :)

So another Christmas card in June. :) I stamped the image using the Versafine Toffee pigment ink and heat embossed it using clear embossing powder. This was just to give it a little boost in the color. The lights in the picture are accented with yellow and brown watercolor. The snow is accented with a little Crystal Stickles to give it the tiniest touch of glimmer.

I had purchased this book on clearance after Christmas with Christmas stories and articles and pulled a page from that for my background paper. I just realized after the picture was taken that it says limited churchgoing. What a bad choice for a Christmas card. :(

Have a lovely day! I will be posting later tonight with the new colors for the PDCC and they are awesome!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

This months challenge for Hero Arts is Summer Fun, Fourth of July and a fun technique of color layering. I have a few birthdays in July around the 4th and decided to try to get one completed before the first deadline for this challenge.

I spent all day on this card and didn't like what I ended up with. Argh... But I thought I would share the two ways I embellished it.

My first attempt at my card looked like this:

I asked my sons' input and there was a long pause. So I knew it wasn't just me. :)

I then took off the twine and moved my buttons and asked if it was better and he said yes.

So my two attempts on one card. My nephew is going to end up with this one. I don't think he will mind as long as the check ends up inside.

Our sponsor this week is Practicing Creativity. Go check out the PDCC to see the wonderful prizes. Courtney Baker is also joining us in the challenge this week as our guest designer!
The rest of the design team created some fab projects with the fun colors.

I finished my second card with the appropriate backgrounder for the CHF summer fling. :) I shared it with my youngest DD(she is 8). I asked her if she would have guessed this was my card. Her reply was "No, because it is fun!) LOL. Love when she says thing like that. Then she repeated about how my cards are always modern. (Translate: Vintage)

Too funny. Anyways, Tanya gets a shout out because she helped me come up with a topper for the party hat. She drew me a picture and helped me create his little pom pom.

The backgrounder is CHF SL-3151WUM Grid Paper and the main images are KH-5034FUM Christmas Critters.

The sentiment is from the newest Memory Box Release and is C1373 Happy Birthday Candle.

Hope you enjoy my penguin holding his bouquet of seal balloons. :)

Have a lovely day... I will be posting later tonight the new PDDC color challenge! They are very fun colors and hope you will play along!

I am hoping to get in my Tag Tuesday still this week along with an entry for the Hero Arts Monthly contest!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

I am a big fan of the Cornish Heritage Farms stamps. They are beautiful and of high quality. They are hosting a 12 week summer fling which you can find the details about at their blog Farm Fresh.

This week's challenge is to use Backgrounders. I love their backgrounds one of the first stamps I purchased from them was a background. Unfortunately I created this card using a Scrapblock which doesn't work towards the challenge this week. :(

Here is the card I created to play along in their challenge:

Although it won't apply to the challenge I am really pleased with the way it turned out.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

I thought I would share one of the cards that I created last weekend that wasn't accepted for publication.

This was created from a scrap I have had in my scrap pile for a long time. The background was created using distress inks mixed up with water on my craft mat. I inked up the Holly and Flourish (Hero Arts) stamp directly in the inky water and stamped it on white cardstock. The fun part of this technique is as it dries the image usually looks better than when you stamped it.

I paired the background with beautiful trim that I found at the Antique Mall. Love browsing around there looking at odds and ends.

The bird is from Impression Obsession and is supposed to be holding a candy cane. (I have used it many times now and glad that I cut away the candy cane. :) The branches are from a Christmas Die Cut from Sizzix.

The lovely sentiment is from Verses Rubber Stamps and it is called Hope Feathers (QQ1007-D).

Cut the birdcage. I was trying to emulate the rusted out bird cage. I had this happen by accident before and knew I was going to use this idea. :)

Emboss birdcage using Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (Victoria)

Sponge a little pink and brown dye ink around the edges of the bird cage and over the embossing.

Now for the birds stomach which I think was so much fun... I inked up the Hero Arts Star Lace Doily with brown pigment ink and laid the edge of it onto the birds belly! I then sponged over and around the edges with pink dye ink.

Stamp the Hero Arts French script in brown pigment ink over the entire bird.

Add the pearl for an eye and your bird is ready.

The background of the tag is stamped twice. Once with the Stampabilities sheet music stamp using Versafine Vintage Sepia and then with the Hero Arts Lace Doily. (I loved the background effect as the ink didn't stamp cleanly and it gave it such a worn look. Will be using these canvas tags again!)

The rest of the tag was easy.. Add some trim, stamp a sentiment and cut it up! Love that I was able to use some of my vintage lace trim that was ripped and torn on the top of the tag.

I am off to make an appetizer for a graduation party, have my cars tires looked at, take the girls to a gymnastics class, then off to the graduation party and then hopefully back home again. :)

Friday, June 4, 2010

Talk about challenging... Louise's tag challenge this week is music. I felt like my daughter looking for her weekly show and tell. :) I was rummaging through all my odds and ends and bits and pieces looking for anything musical related.

Well after all that searching I compiled this tag.

The bits and pieces I found music related:

Little card with the Prize Song (Peg O My Heart)

Music Background Stamp

Little charm with an angel playing a harp

I have another tag that started from this challenge, that I will share tomorrow.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Sarah selected the soft pretty colors for this weeks challenge at the Play Date Cafe Challenge. They posed a real challenge for me as I realized I had no peach or lemon inks and nary a piece of peach, light peach or lemon cardstock on hand. :)

So I had to go to the store and do a little shopping. ;) I found a few necessities along with some really lovely pattern paper for the challenge.

I love this sentiment about the butterflies and it is from Verses The Caterpillar Calls.

The butterflies shapes are from Spellbinders Shapeabilities Butterfly Die and two different sized Marvy Uchida Punches.

The are Webster's Pages Snowflakes and Feathers and the other is a Terri Conrad design.
The inks are my go to colors of Memento Rich Cocoa for the sponging and Versafine Vintage Sepia for the sentiment.

I cut the shapes from Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 10.

The frame is embossed using a Cuttlebug Embossing folder called Victoria.

Our sponsor this week is Limelight they have provided some lovely goodies as prizes. Go check out the PDCC to see the prizes. The Limelight design team is also joining us in the challenge this week. Here is the Limelight Blog to go see the beautiful projects they created.